Ministry That Homeschooled the Duggars Sued By 5 Women for Sexual Abuse

The Washington Post reports that five women are suing the Institute in Basic Life Principles, the ministry that homeschooled the Duggars, for sexual misconduct. The women allege the ministry covered up frequent abuse and inappropriate touching.

From The Washington Post:

The new lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in DuPage County Circuit Court in Illinois, where IBLP's headquarters is located, charges that IBLP, its employees and directors "frequently received reports" of "sexual abuse, sexual harassment and inappropriate/unauthorized touching." But, the lawsuit said, they never reported "these serious, potentially criminal allegations to law enforcement authorities or the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services" as required by state law.

According to the attorney representing the woman, they only decided to sue after IBLP's Board of Directors refused to address the issue.

This isn't the first time IBLP has been in the spotlight — in 2014, their founder, Bill Gothard, was accused of sexually harassing over 30 women and not reporting cases of child abuse. To make matters worse (if that's possible), some of the alleged victims of his sexual harassment were teenagers.

If you'll remember, this is the very same ministry that Josh Duggar, the eldest son of the reality TV superfamily, was sent to after he admitted to sexually abusing four of his younger sisters and a family friend.

Laura BeckLaura Beck is a Los Angeles-based TV writer and frequent contributor to Cosmopolitan.com — her work has appeared in the New York Times, New Yorker, Jezebel, and the Village Voice.

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